Max Walscheid, riding the Propel Advanced SL Disc and wearing the Giant Pursuit helmet along with prototype Giant shoes, sprinted to third in the elite men's German national road race. Cor Vos photo.

Haga Podium Leads Team Sunweb at National Road/TT Champs!

Team Sunweb riders returned to their home countries last week to compete in various national road and time trial championships,taking home several podium finishes and top-10 resultsaround the world.

American Chad Haga scored the top result for the men’s squad, taking a silver medal in the elite men’s race at the U.S. National Time Trial Championship. The 29-year-old Texan powered his Trinity Advanced Pro TT biketo a second-place finish behind Joey Rosskopf on a 33.7km course in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. Haga, who wore the Giant Rivet TT helmet, had the disadvantage of racing in the rain, while some other top contenders were able to race in drier conditions.

“I’m happy with my ride,” Haga said. “I did the best I could in those conditions. It’s been a long time since I was able to compete at nationals, and my form was a bit uncertain after recovering from the Giro. Today I proved I’m among the best American time trialists, so I can be satisfied with that.”

Also representing Team Sunweb in the time trials was Wilco Kelderman, who took home a meda of his own. The Dutchman was third in the elite men’s race in the Netherlands, and his teammate Martijn Tusveld was seventh. Both rode their Trinity Advanced Pro TT machines.

“After the Tour de Suisse, I’m happy with this TT,” Kelderman said. “I came to fight for the title and that did not work out, so that is a small disappointment. Overall it was a good time trial.”

Unfortunately for Kelderman, who had a stellar performance at the recent Tour de Suisse, finishing fifth overall in that WorldTour stage race, he crashed out of the Dutch national road race championship a few days later and will now miss the Tour de France that he was building up for.

“At the moment the pain is really intense, making a Tour start simply impossible,” Kelderman said. “It can’t get much worse after the injuries I already faced in my recent career, I have to get over once again and I will need time.”

In better news for the team Mike Teunissen finished fifth in the elite mens’ road race in the Netherlands, adding to his list of achievements that includes a cyclocross world title in 2013.

In Germany, sprinter Max Walscheid scored a bronze medal, racing his Propel Advanced SL Disc team bike to third place with the help of his Team Sunweb teammate and lead-out man Nikias Arndt. “It was a good race, really controlled and really fast,” Arndt said. “We did a really good lead-out, together with our development team who did a really good job today. Unfortunately we didn’t get the win but we can be happy with the race.”

Now Team Sunweb turns its attention to the upcoming Tour de France.The three-week grand tour kicks off July 7.